DNC's Wasserman Schultz calls Republicans 'callous' toward women

Reporting from Washington — Democratic efforts to frame recent Republican policies and right-wing statements as part of a larger “war on women” led by the GOP took another step Sunday. On CNN’s “State of the Union,” Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz portrayed Republicans as “turning back the clock for women.”

“Gov. [Scott] Walkerjust signed a bill that repeals the equal pay law that they had in Wisconsin for years,” she said to host Candy Crowley. “You have Republicans that have engaged themselves for the entire Congress on trying to redefine rape as only being forceful rape, defunding Planned Parenthood and family planning programs.”

Wasserman Schultz’s remarks, in which she also called the GOP "callous and insensitive," follow Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus’ response Thursday to allegations of a war on women on Bloomberg TV.

“If the Democrats said we had a war on caterpillars, and mainstream media outlets talked about the fact Republicans have a war on caterpillars, then we have problems with caterpillars,” Priebus said.

Female voters have been a focal point for the Democratic Party since a string of controversies this year, from the aforementioned fights over Planned Parenthood’s funding, the provision of contraceptives by religions organizations to Rush Limbaugh’s disparaging comments toward Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke after she spoke to the House of Representatives.

Most recently, Republican candidates were quick to agree with President Obama’s statement Thursday that women should be permitted to join the currently all-male Augusta National Golf Club, which came on the heels of a USA Today/Gallup poll that found Mitt Romney 19 points behind Obama among independent female voters.

When asked whether the term “war on women” was an exaggeration of GOP policies, Wasserman Schultz turned to a voice within the Republican Party to back up her rhetoric.

“We need to look at what Republicans are saying about the policies towards women themselves, so look at what Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska just said in her state the other day, where she said, if Republicans don't position that our policies are an attack on women, they need to go on home and talk to their wives and daughters,” she said.